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I Got You

Daily Reading

Acts 9-10

Daily Thought

Firm in his belief that he was serving God, Paul was pursuing and persecuting Christians as far away as Damascus, a six-day journey. One saint in Damascus knew of his reputation and feared his coming, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem” (Acts 9:13). But on the road to Damascus, God confronted Paul. Paul had thought Jesus a fraud, when from heaven, Jesus spoke to Saul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5).

Oops. 

Paul met Jesus and his life turned upside down–which was now actually right-side up. 

I came home from college the summer following my freshman year and ran into a high school friend named John, but we called him “Animal.” An all-city nose guard, he was crazy on and off the football field. A wicked wit, he often spoke in rhyme, funny and filthy. “Hey Animal,” I smiled, anticipating a barrage of profanity, blasphemy, and debauchery. Instead, I got Grace. I got the Gospel. I got to hear about his friend, Jesus Christ. 

“John, what happened?”

“I got Jesus.” 

And Jesus got John.

Paul got the Gospel and Jesus got Paul. Repentance means to turn around, go the opposite direction. Paul repented. “All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?’ But Paul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:21-22). Boy, did he turn around!

Nice people might make nice Christians, but watch what happens when God gets ahold of a person of unbridled passion.

Daily Prayer

It’s amazing grace, my God. I was a sinner, and You changed me. Now, I am a saint. May I never forget the transformation, and may I never tire of telling the story.

The goodness, the righteousness, the holiness of Your Son is now mine. I still sin, I know I do. But no longer am I a sinner. I am a child of God, not by anything I have done, but by the work of Jesus Christ. May the passion I used to display toward worldliness and wickedness be given to godliness all the more.

Amen

Daily Question

How can people tell that Jesus got you?

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Audience of One

Daily Reading

Acts 7-8

Daily Thought

Stephen was dragged into the council room, placed before the court, and interrogated about Jesus. He answered by opening the Scriptures and teaching the chief priest and elders a lesson from their own history, from Abraham to Joseph to Moses to David. He then accused these “stiff-necked people” of following in the footsteps of their forefathers: “As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” (Acts 7:51-52). Their fathers killed the prophets, the council killed the Son of God, and now for his insolence, they would put Stephen to death.

As they picked up stones to throw at him, Stephen looked up, and heaven was opened; and “full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).

Travel back a couple months to the night before the cross. Jesus was on trial in the same council room before the same court, and the high priest asked if he was the Christ, the Messiah. For an answer, Jesus announced, “From now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69). 

But he wasn’t sitting now; he was standing. 

Stephen endured the wrath of the council to stand faithful before his Savior. Stephen stood before an audience of one and now his Savior stood for him. You can picture Jesus applauding.

Daily Prayer

My Lord and my God, You have my allegiance. I am Your ambassador, and will stand on earth and represent You with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. I love You that much. At least I want to. My love fails at times, but You never fail, so strengthen me. I will stand, but please pick me up when I fall, hold me when I weaken.

You began a good work in me, and I trust You to complete it. May I cast aside anything that slows or stops the progress. I long to see You standing, to hear You say, “Well done.”

Amen

Daily Question

When have you stood for Jesus when it was not a popular stance?

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God Bless You

Daily Reading

Acts 4-6

Daily Thought

For those who question whether the cross is the only way to salvation, Jesus wondered as well, praying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42). But there wasn’t another way and there isn’t another Savior, and only Jesus died for our sins. Peter properly proclaimed, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The Jewish religious leaders thought they had silenced Jesus in death, but death didn’t hold him. When he rose from the tomb, his followers rose from despair “and every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching” (Acts 5:42).

Now the leaders sought to silence the disciples, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name” (Acts 5:28).

For 80 years, the graduation ceremonies of Washington Community High School included a prayer, until 2001, when a lawsuit was filed and the court ruled, “No, you may not pray.” That was the year prayer was silenced. Almost. Ryan stood at the podium, the final student speaker. Quiet for a moment, he then opened his mouth to speak, but instead, “Ahh-choo,” he sneezed. From out of the graduating class of 2001 came the response, students united in a simple prayer, “God bless you.”

Peter and John answered then as we must answer now, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). When Jesus rose from the dead, he made it clear, the world cannot cancel the Truth.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~John 14:6

Daily Prayer

Lord God, I shout Your Name because You are worthy of praise. And if I don’t, the rocks will cry out. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Creation itself declares loudly Your wonders, Your wisdom, Your beauty and grace, Your majesty.

Lord, may I be bold, may I say Your Name aloud because it is the Name of salvation, and because the world needs to be saved. How can I not speak of You? You are the good news of salvation to a lost world.

Amen

Daily Question

Why is there no other way to salvation than Jesus?

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Great Things

Daily Reading

Acts 1-3

Daily Thought

You would think seeing Jesus alive would fire up the disciples, empower them to take the good news of Jesus to the world, but it didn’t happen that way. After Jesus rose from the tomb, the disciples locked themselves in a room “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Jesus appeared to them and showed them the nail holes in his hands and his side where the spear had pierced him. One week later, the disciples were in the same room, doors locked again. Jesus showed up again, same routine. What happened after that? “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I’m going fishing’” (John 21:3), and off they went.

We are made in God’s image, but we are dead in our sin and we must be awakened. We, too, must rise from the dead and we don’t summon that life because we experienced an event, no matter how dramatic. Our batteries are not drained, they are dead; they cannot hold a charge. God must reach inside us and renew our life. 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ~Acts 1:8 

A short time later, the disciples were gathered together in a room “and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4), and it was then that a bunch of faint-hearted followers transformed into world-changing warriors.

Daily Prayer

Jesus, You said that we, Your followers, Your church, will do greater things than You did. I mean, You are the salvation of the world. Yours is the Name above all names. What could be greater? It is a wonderful humility to know it is not in our power to do great things for You, but through Your power in us great things will be done. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, we carry the message, the Good News of salvation to the world. Through Your power, lives are changed. That’s pretty great!

Father God, may I be faithful to follow Your Word, going to the world, in the power of Your Spirit, in the Name of Your Son, with the gospel of grace. I will be faithful to plant the seeds and water the soil and leave it to You, God, to make it grow.

Amen

Daily Question

What is it like to have the power of the Holy Spirit filling you?

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No Doubt

Daily Reading

John 19-21

Daily Thought

Following the resurrection, Jesus appeared to many of his followers. The disciples, minus Thomas, were gathered in a locked room when Jesus “came and stood among them” (John 20:19). Later, when they ran into Thomas, their excitement was evident, “We have seen the Lord!”

People don’t rise from the dead, so it was understandable when Thomas challenged them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). Richard Dawkins, biologist, atheist, and author of “The God Delusion,” admires Thomas’s skepticism, “Science is based upon verifiable evidence. Religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its pride and joy, shouted from the rooftops. Why else would Christians wax critical of doubting Thomas? The other apostles are held up to us as exemplars of virtue because faith was enough for them. Doubting Thomas, on the other hand, required evidence.”

Eight days later, Jesus appeared again, and this time Thomas was in the room. Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).

“Perhaps he should be the patron saint of scientists,” Richard Dawkins suggests. Fair enough, Patron of Scientists, Saint Thomas, who upon looking at the evidence, bowed and worshiped, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). No doubt.

Daily Prayer

Jesus, Son of Almighty God, Risen Lord and Savior, bearing the marks of the cross still. You bore the cross, the pain of death, and the greater pain of sin, so that I might be saved. When Thomas looked at Your hands, he did not simply see proof of who You were. He saw proof of what You bore, what you had done. For him. For me. For the whole world.

Jesus, You are God of all creation. When You paint a sunset, the right response is not mere belief,  but worship. Thank You, Jesus, You are my Lord and my God. Thank You for giving me life and placing me in a world You created for us, for seeking after I lost You, for saving me, for loving me.

Amen

Daily Question

What kind and how much evidence do you need to believe in Jesus?

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Imagine

Daily Reading

John 16-18

Daily Thought

Jesus stirred up conflict, but in him the world would find peace, and he told us so, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). 

On Christmas Eve 1914, in the midst of World War I, silence replaced gunfire between the Germans and the British. Then singing sprang from the German side; a Christmas Carol, Stille Nacht (Silent Night). A placard was raised above a trench, “YOU NO FIGHT, WE NO FIGHT.” The British responded, “MERRY CHRISTMAS.” Soldiers emerged, cautious at first, then joyfully. Gifts were exchanged, chocolate cake and wine, photos of families. A soccer game erupted (British 3, Germans 2). And peace. It was Christmas, after all. 

It didn’t last. The generals did not like it. It was war, after all. But for a day there was “peace on earth, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33

John, the Beatle, not the writer of this Gospel, invites one to “Imagine there’s no heaven.” Sorry, John, “all the people living life in peace” will only happen when heaven happens. Why in this world would I Imagine otherwise?

Daily Prayer

God of peace, I look forward to the day the world is brought into order, when the lion lays with the lamb, when there are no enemies, no war, no hatred, no tears. No death.

Your Son brought Your Kingdom near. Embrace me with the peace You bring to my life.I know my future and have nothing to fear because my eternity rests in You.

Amen

Daily Question

What brings you the most peace?

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A New Commandment

Daily Reading

John 13-15

Daily Thought

The end was near, and by the end, I mean when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and died for the sins of the world. Preparing his disciples for the events that would soon follow, “that he had come from God and was going back to God” (John 13:3), Jesus grabbed a towel and began washing his disciples’ feet. Peter, believing it undignified of Jesus to play the servant (because he would think himself undignified if he had done the same), told Jesus to stop, but Jesus corrected him: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8). That is to say, if you are to be like me, Peter, you shall allow me to serve you and “you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

Jesus explained he would soon leave them, and “where I am going you cannot come” (John 13:33). Last words are important words, and none more important than what followed, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). 

Peter missed the last words completely and returned to the first, “Lord, where are you going?” (John 13:36). Sometimes, I think Jesus chose Peter as a disciple because he would ask the questions all of us are thinking. How often we concern ourselves with where Jesus went or when he is coming back, neglecting the very thing he told us to do in his absence, to love one another. 

When I was a teenager, I remember the church sanctuary packed on Wednesday evening for a conference on “End Times,” then, the next night, a dozen would show up to feed the hungry at the mission. I’m not throwing stones, I was there Wednesday, not Thursday. We argue at the edges and miss the center, “love one another,” then wonder at the world’s difficulty in recognizing his disciples. 

Daily Prayer

God, Almighty, Powerful, Wonderful, and Wise, You are worthy of all praise. The whole world sings of Your glory. And you got down on your knees and washed my feet. And you got up on a cross and died in my place. Serving and sacrifice.

May I have that same attitude, one of humility and service. One of sacrifice and dying to myself. One of love. May the world know that You are God, my God, because I show them the same love You have shown me.

Amen

Daily Question

How good are Christians at loving one another? How can we improve?

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The Last Word

Daily Reading

John 11-12

Daily Thought

Home was heaven, but Jesus let go and entered a world of sin and hurt, suffering and injustice, and most of all, death. His friend Lazarus lay dead in a tomb and the sisters suffered and the crowds cried and “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Nevertheless, when Martha asked of her brother’s death, Jesus had the answer, “Your brother will rise again. I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Do you believe this?” (John 11:23, 25-26). 

She did believe, but her brother was dead right now, and Jesus did something special. Jesus would show her and her sister and the weeping crowd around them the glory of God. Jesus commanded, “Take away the stone!” (John 11:39). Martha, always the practical one, warned, ““Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39). That’s just how it is, death stinks. It is foul. Death is the last enemy, but not the last word. 

“Lazarus, come out!” Jesus called in a loud voice. “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” ~John 11:43, 44

In a short time, Jesus would himself be lying in a tomb, but if you were there on this day at the tomb of Lazarus, you know death is not the last word.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” ~John 11:25

Do you believe this?

Daily Prayer

Father, I do not live in despair in this world of sin and death because I have the certainty of heaven, of home, of eternity in Your presence. I live holding the hope of heaven because Your Son beat death and I believe! And that changes everything.

God, I live in a land foreign to my citizenship in Your Kingdom where I will live forever. I serve the King of kings and my hope, when my life here ends, is to hear from You, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” May I live in a manner that delights You and those words sum up my life.

Amen

Daily Question

Why should someone believe Jesus rose from the dead?

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That Voice

Daily Reading

John 9-10

Daily Thought

It’s the Price voice; you know it when you hear it. My four children are playing in the family room when the front door swings open, “Hello!”  

Four heads in unison whip around toward the door. “Daddy’s home!”  Nope, it’s Uncle Drew, my brother. They run and hug Uncle Drew, then go back to playing. 

The front door swings open again, “Hello!” 

Four heads in unison whip around toward the door. “Daddy’s home!” Nope, it’s Grampa, my Dad. They run and hug Grampa, then go back to playing. 

The front door swings open once more, “Hello!” 

Four heads in unison whip around toward the door. “Daddy’s home!” They run and leap into my arms.

That voice. You can’t tell which Price it belongs to, but you know it’s a Price.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” ~John 10:27

That voice! Sounds just like his Father. Jesus has his Father’s looks, his mannerisms, his voice. It is impossible to tell them apart. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), exclaims Jesus, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus was accused of blasphemy because of this statement, claiming to be the Son of God. His response: just watch me and see if I am not just like my Father; “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10:37-38). 

That voice!

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, I love to hear Your voice. The more I listen to Your Word, the better I know You, the more I love You, the closer I follow You, and, I hope, the more I sound just like You.

Thank You for Your Son because in Him I see You, and through Him, I have been adopted into Your family. My prayer, O God, is that I will sound like You, look like You, act like You, that when people see and hear me, they think of You and are glad.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you know when God is speaking to you?

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Throwing Stones

Daily Reading

John 7-8

Daily Thought

A woman committing adultery was caught by the religious leaders and brought before Jesus. How they caught her and where was the man would be interesting questions, but Jesus did not ask. Instead, they challenged Jesus, “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (John 8:5). Would the one who claimed to be the Son of God execute God’s justice? Jesus bent down and began writing in the dirt. Many have guessed at what he wrote, but it does not matter. He simply took his time and unnerved the accusers, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). The Judge rendered his judgment, and one by one, the prosecution walked away. 

Only one person standing there could throw a stone, but he did not. Jesus freed the sinful woman (for she indeed was guilty) from her accusers. Now he would free her from her sin. “Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked. She shook her head no. “Neither do I,” said the one who could have, “now stop sinning” (John 8:10-11). 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). The scribes and Pharisees, accusing the woman, were slaves to sin themselves (none picked up a stone). A religion consumed only with sin seeks only to condemn, an effort, I suppose, to make oneself better by comparison. But the One without sin seeks to set you free, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Daily Prayer

Father of grace and mercy, I have given You every reason to condemn me and cast me away. By Your mercy, you do not give me what I deserve, but You paid the penalty for me. By Your grace, you give me what I do not deserve and call me righteous and holy, a saint.

May I learn from Your grace and mercy and do the same in this world. May I be one who does not condemn, but restores. May I be one who gives grace and shows love to others, no matter what they deserve. May I love my friends and my enemies, my neighbor as myself.

Amen

Daily Question

What have you done that Jesus would condemn?